Commander of the Indonesian Border Protection Task Force, Major Dony Gredinand, confirmed the temporary closure of the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea (PNG) border post when Antara contacted him from Jayapura, the capital city of Papua Province, on Tuesday.
"Well, our border post is temporarily closed," he said, adding that the sound of gunshots was heard several times at around 06.00 a.m. local time. As a result, local residents were afraid but none of them were injured.
"All [of them] are safe," Dony Gredinand said. However, the temporary closure of the border post affected activities at the border market.
The armed Papuan separatist groups have become a real security threat for both Indonesian security personnel and innocent civilians because they keep killing innocent civilians.
On September 26, an armed Papuan separatist group gunned down two motorcycle taxi (Ojek) drivers near the Muara suspension bridge in Amnunggi Village, Ilaga Sub-district, Puncak, Papua.
According to the Papua provincial police spokesman, Sen. Coms. Ahmad Kamal, the two Ojek drivers, identified as La Ode Alwi and Midung, were gunned down by the ruthless armed rebels while passing by the area at around 12:30 p.m. local time.
In fact, over the past year, the armed Papuan separatists had not only campaigned a spate of killings of civilians and security personnel but they were also involved in other grave crimes, including holding civilians hostage and raping the victims.
On February 2, 2019, the armed Papuan rebels also gunned down a civilian in a village of Jayawijaya District.
This murder of Sugeng Efendi, a resident of Wuyukwi Village, Mulia Sub-district, has raised the death toll of civilians at the hands of armed Papuan rebels, following the killing of 31 construction workers in December 2018.
This 25-year-old kiosk keeper was murdered two days after the Free Papua Movement (OPM) voiced its official support for its armed wing's declaration of war against Indonesia.
According to Radio New Zealand (RNZ), the announcement was made by OPM spokesman, Jeffrey Bomanak, at a press conference held in Port Moresby, the capital city of Papua New Guinea, on January 31, 2019.
RNZ quoted Bomanak as saying that the war against the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia "would not end until Jakarta agreed to meet for peaceful negotiations, for which the OPM is establishing a team of negotiators".
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EDITED BY INE
Translator: Alfian R, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
